In the spirit of George Orwell and Rachel Maddow, two truthtellers whom I greatly admire, I begin this column with a correction, or rather several corrections. In my column dated March 26, 2020, I wrote about zombies, a subject of which, at the outset, I admittedly knew nothing. A reader has since pointed out several factual errors in my account.

While Rachel Maddow, to the best of my knowledge, has never written or spoken publicly about zombies–and I don’t honestly think she would–that isn’t the point. Like Orwell before her, she strives for clarity and honesty in her reporting. Were Rachel Maddow to learn that she had made a mistake, she would correct it, pronto.

The first factual error brought to my attention by the aforementioned reader, who also happens to be my daughter, Molly, goes as follows: “Zombies, like vampires, are ravenous for human blood.”

“No, Mom,” Molly said. “Zombies are not like vampires. Vampires are calculating when they prey on people. Ghosts are pure spirit; zombies are just bodies. Zombies can’t think. And they’re not after blood. They’re after brains. They eat human brains.”

“I take your word for it,” I conceded, mentally rifling through my notes, “but I’m sure I read that they were ravenous for blood somewhere.”

“Zombies just react because they’re infected,” she explained, “but they don’t think.”

“Kind of like those 17-year locusts you texted me about that go through all those motions while they’re infected with fungus. The ones that scientist called flying salt shakers of death. That must be why they’re called zombies,” I said.

“Exactly,” she confirmed.

The reader also took exception to the next sentence in the disputed column: “If they don’t feed for several days or more, they die.”

While she explained to me that the rules pertaining to zombies differ according to the account you are referencing–“Night of the Living Dead,” “The Walking Dead” or “28 Days Later,” for example–she maintained that zombies do not eat in order to exist. The only way to stop a zombie is to destroy its brain. You could shoot it in the head.

“Oh, and fire,” she said. “Fire destroys zombies. Which is odd, because they seem to be attracted to fire, or any kind of commotion.”

In a Quora blog on the subject of the AMC television series “The Walking Dead,” James Earl Adams III, a pathology analyst who studied at the University of Texas at San Antonio, contributed “Everything they (zombies) do requires energy: shambling, groaning, biting. You can’t so much as perceive your environment without expending energy….Where does a zombie get the energy that it’s obviously using?”

It’s a mystery.

Third, the reader took exception to my assertion that “impaired as they must be, zombies do have a heightened sense of smell that enables them to seek out human blood.” Simply not true, according to Molly.

“You should watch ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ Mom,” she told me. “It’s really good. So is the ‘Walking Dead’ series.”

Perhaps. I avoid scary films and videos, though. The scariest thing I have ever been able to watch is “Jurassic Park,” I told her.

“Well, you watched ‘Breaking Bad,'” the reader reminded me.

“Yes,” I mused, “finally. Once I started I couldn’t stop. And then I watched ‘Better Call Saul.'” Still, I am drawing the line at zombies, at least while alone in my apartment under a stay-at-home order.

“What about ‘The Zombie Apocalypse?'” I asked. “Is that good?”

“Mom. There is no movie called ‘The Zombie Apocalypse.'” Turns out it’s the name of the literary genre.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention share the reader’s appreciation for “The Walking Dead.” While the zombie rules do vary, the living are generally thought to be zombified by some sort of contagious virus, which ties in with the CDC’s work with emergency preparedness.

As I wrote in that previous column, the CDC has been featuring zombies in their promotions since 2011, with materials for educators, a poster, a graphic novel and social media online, all of which use humor, as well as scary zombies, to help the public prepare for epidemic and pandemic crises.

All right, did I get that right? Is there anything I got wrong?

Enjoy the spring weather–practicing physical distancing, of course–and have a good week.